Description

In 2020, I independently published HappiMess: A Fill-in-the-Blank Coloring Book, an activity book with fill-in-the-blank stories (a la Mad Libs) and coloring pages with space for readers/artists to add their own drawings to the art already there.

Completed stories would be unique to each reader and would serve to generate drawing ideas. They also added a social component to the book, as FITB stories can be considered party games. Furthermore, because the resulting stories would no doubt be absurd, they would pair well with the cartoonish art style of the illustrations. Additional blank parts-of-speech word lists were available as free downloadable content for readers to print and fill in, making it possible for the stories to be completed and enjoyed multiple times.

I set up my project file in Adobe InDesign and drew the line art illustrations in the art app Infinite Painter. In addition to ensuring the art was chaotic and fun, I wanted to show diversity among the characters and have every person feel represented.

I created the cover art and patterned backgrounds for each page in Adobe Illustrator. The downloadable word lists also have the same backgrounds, which makes identifying the desired word list easier and maximizes the coloring opportunities associated with this project.

In July 2020, I published the 5" × 8", 30-page HappiMess: A Fill-in-the-Blank Coloring Book via Blurb. Since then, the book has been available in local shops in Orlando (e.g., Park Ave CDs, YAY!, Good Crowd, Joybird Books) as well as on Etsy.